17-11-2013, 06:26 PM
My elder son wrote his dissertation for his degree back in the late 1980s on a Sinclair QL and stored it on microdrives. How dodgy was that!?
I can recall the suite of programs that came with the QL - 'Abacus', and 'Quill' were two of them. Not bad in their day.
What I marvel at is the rate of advancement of storage media and powerful software packages. Not so long ago teams of comptometers and punched card operators were required to work out payrolls etc, and what used to require a team of IT specialists in a huge room with banks of valves on hard wire boards needing constant attention, and large reels of magnetic tapes can be slipped in the pocket and costs just a few pounds.
In the same vein, I recall visiting Papplewick pumping station near Mansfield - a museum with a wonderful working beam engine water pump. Someone asked the unaskable question ' How is the water pumped nowadays'? The curator said 'Well you're stood on it', and lifted a slab about 18" square, under which an electric pump was quietly whirring away. I felt quite sad for the engineers who designed and built the station and the wonderful beam engine, both the engine and the building long since rendered redundant in the face of 'progress' but thankfully preserved for future generations to marvel at.
(I do still have a 3.5" floppy drive in my desktop PC, but I don't think I've ever used it).
I can recall the suite of programs that came with the QL - 'Abacus', and 'Quill' were two of them. Not bad in their day.
What I marvel at is the rate of advancement of storage media and powerful software packages. Not so long ago teams of comptometers and punched card operators were required to work out payrolls etc, and what used to require a team of IT specialists in a huge room with banks of valves on hard wire boards needing constant attention, and large reels of magnetic tapes can be slipped in the pocket and costs just a few pounds.
In the same vein, I recall visiting Papplewick pumping station near Mansfield - a museum with a wonderful working beam engine water pump. Someone asked the unaskable question ' How is the water pumped nowadays'? The curator said 'Well you're stood on it', and lifted a slab about 18" square, under which an electric pump was quietly whirring away. I felt quite sad for the engineers who designed and built the station and the wonderful beam engine, both the engine and the building long since rendered redundant in the face of 'progress' but thankfully preserved for future generations to marvel at.
(I do still have a 3.5" floppy drive in my desktop PC, but I don't think I've ever used it).
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
